General Assembly: Press Release

With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling for the adoption of a global action agenda for accelerating progress towards the Goals, when world leaders meet for a United Nations summit in New York, from 20 to 22 September.

Reports submitted by the Governments of Argentina, Mexico, New Zealand and Uzbekistan on measures taken to implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights will be reviewed by the Human Rights Committee at its ninety-eighth session, which will be held in New York at United Nations Headquarters from 8 to 26 March 2010.

The following statement was issued on 24 February by the Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in connection with the announcement by the Government of Israel concerning religious sites in the Occupied Palestinian Territory:

Under the theme “The urgency of addressing the permanent status issues -- borders, Jerusalem, settlements, refugees, water”, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean will convene the International Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace at the Dolmen Hotel in Qawra, Malta, on 12 and 13 February.

After an historic global recession pushed millions more into poverty and raised fears that the traditional system of checks and balances might fail to prevent another, the United Nations General Assembly used the main part of its sixty-fourth session to urge the creation of a more equitable multilateral structure that would see developing countries increasingly take positions of power, from the Security Council to the Bretton Woods institutions and other global decision-making forums.

In efforts to highlight their contribution to society and help address the challenges they face, the United Nations is dedicating a year to young people by proclaiming 2010 the International Year of Youth, commencing on next 12 August.

Following is the statement by the Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on Israel’s settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem:

The Palestinian Rights Committee will hold a special meeting in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People in the Trusteeship Council Chamber at 10 a.m. on Monday, 30 November 2009, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 32/40 B of 2 December 1977.

To celebrate the unifying spirit and fortieth anniversary of the Plastic Ono Band’s universal anthem, “Give Peace a Chance”, Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Julian Lennon have partnered with EMI Music and Sony/ATV Music Publishing to donate net proceeds from the sale of a commemorative fortieth anniversary digital single to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund.

A high-level United Nations conference on South-South cooperation is to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 1-3 December, 2009, the General Assembly has decided.